MBMG Data Preservation Documentation

CollectionBuilder Documentation

CollectionBuilder is a digital tool developed to produce digital archives that both preserves and houses digital archival material, and is a helpful way for users to learn about the collection and access the files. This tool is essentially a web code template that is easy for users to make a digital archive without needing to know much about web coding and design. For full initial documentation please visit the CollectionBuilder documentation website to get started.

The documentation below are more details specific to the MBMG Data Preservation use of CollectionBuilder. Since CollectionBuilder is an open source code template, it is very maneuverable to fit every collections’ needs. Included are also some more advanced ways to manipulate the CollectionBuilder code and how to navigate it. There is a little bit of a learning curve, but once learned, it takes hardly any time to create a whole website featuring archival material.

Links to Documentation	Description
Setting up for CollectionBuilder	Begin here. Follow these software installation procedures to ensure files are consistent and function on the MBMG website.
Building a Collection	The basic CollectionBuilder docs will help get started and familiar with CollectionBuilder, but these docs here will walk through the specific changes to files necessary for the MBMG collection standard to keep consistency and functionality.
Metadata Modifications	MBMG collection metadata has many text capitalization issues that prevent communication with the website. This section provides shortcuts to change all caps entries to proper capitalization display using both Visual Studio Code and Microsoft Excel.
Customizing Home and About Pages	You can customize the content and appearance of both the Home and About pages. If there is no relevant data, some items, like a timeline, should be changed. The About page may contain greater details about a collection, a map key, and/or any other pertinent collection information.
Additional Site Customization	This external link leads to CollectionBuilder instructions for modifying theme colors, modifying tabs on the navigation bar, and organizing data display locations. Follow any instructions specific for Stand Alone users, and ignore all GitHub specific instructions.
Deploying Collection Site	CollectionBuilder's tutorials teaches how and where to move files and how to deploy the finished website. The procedure to deploy the MBMG Data Preservation websites is identical. The deployed files always can be edited.
CollectionBuilder Documentation	This external link leads to the CollectionBuilder website. It contains all of the documentation written by the CollectionBuilder team. It is a reference to more information about other CollectionBuilder tools, updates, examples, etc.